In front of an electric crowd of nearly 10,000 at the Bradley Center on Friday night, the Milwaukee Admirals lost a heartbreaker in a 3-2 shootout against the Iowa Stars, despite an outstanding effort by goaltender Brian Finley.

Finley made 44 saves, with three coming in the shootout, but it wasn’t enough to preserve the victory. In the shootout, the Stars took a 2-1 lead with Admirals player Chris Durno having a chance to extend the shootout in the Admirals last chance, but his shot sailed wide and gave Iowa the shootout victory.

The Admirals still managed to gain a point from the shootout and maintained a three-point lead in first place in the AHL’s Western Division over the Houston Aeros.

The Admirals had a very quick turnaround as they played again Saturday night on the road against the Omaha Knights. This time the Admirals came out on the right end of the shootout, winning 2-1.

The Admirals were very fortunate the game headed into a shootout, as they were outshot 38-18, but still managed to get the victory.

Rich Beverly, Simon Gamache and Brandon Segal scored the goals in the shootout for Milwaukee to help in the victory.

Wave’s trip goes sour

The Milwaukee Wave’s Midwest road trip over the weekend was not a good one, as they fell 9-4 to the Chicago Storm on Friday night and then lost to the St. Louis Steamers 8-4 the following night.

Against Chicago, the Wave played the Storm tough in the first quarter, but the flood gates opened up in the second quarter as the Storm scored six goals to help preserve the 9-4 victory.

It was almost déjà vu against St. Louis on Saturday night when the Wave played the Steamers tough through two quarters but then had another quarter meltdown as the Wave got outscored 4-1 in the third quarter, leading to the Steamers’ 8-4 victory.

St. Louis took a 1-0 lead after the first quarter but Marcelo Fontana tied it at 1 early in the second quarter. However, the Steamers scored two more goals in the second quarter to open up a 3-1 halftime lead.

In the third quarter, St. Louis pulled away for good as they increased their lead to 7-2. Two Milwaukee goals in the fourth quarter were a little too late for a comeback.

With the win, the Steamers maintained first place in the MISL, increasing their lead over second-place Milwaukee by four and a half games.

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